


Lunch Date

by shadowmaat



Series: Taking Flight [14]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Dating, Gen, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 02:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15985304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowmaat/pseuds/shadowmaat
Summary: Maul decides to have lunch with a classmate, but it may mean more than he realizes.





	Lunch Date

Maul closed down his datapad and tucked it in his pocket as he headed for the door. His brain was still stuffed with hyperspace theory, which might have been why he didn’t notice that his path was blocked until he almost walked into someone.

“Oh, hi, Maul!”

He took a quick step back, wings twitching as he looked up to see a green-skinned twi’lek girl smiling at him. A human and another twi’lek stood nearby, watching her. He vaguely recognized them as classmates. 

“Hello… Feen?” he guessed.

Her smile got a little brighter. “Yes! Hi! I, uh, I was wondering if you had plans for lunch?”

He opened his mouth to tell her he was having lunch with Obi-Wan, but remembered that today was the day of the big astronav exam and that he wasn’t likely to see his friend until close to suppertime. If he survived.

“No.” He glanced at Feen’s companions, wondering if he was being set up for some kind of ambush. “I’ll probably grab something and eat in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.” 

“Oh.” Feen’s shoulders sagged and she glanced at her friends. The human- Mora?- made a shooing gesture at her. “I mean, that sounds really nice. “Would you- could I- is it alright if I join you?”

Maul blinked. It wasn’t that the other padawans weren’t friendly towards him, but most of them didn’t go out of their way to include him in their activities. He glanced at Mora and the twi’lek whose name he couldn’t remember. They both started scrutinizing their datapads. Feen shifted, blocking his view. Her cheeks seemed to be a brighter green and the tips of her lekku were twitching.

“I suppose,” he said, unable to shake the sense that he was missing something. “I mean, yes, the company would be appreciated.” He could almost  _ feel _ Master Jinn breathing down his neck, reminding him to mind his manners. He smiled.

Feen’s face brightened a shade more. Her friends giggled and then turned to leave, promising to catch up to her later. Which meant it was just the two of them? Unless they were planning an ambush. It seemed unlikely, but some old habits refused to die. He walked by Feen’s side as they headed for the cafeteria, quickly running through what little small talk Qui-Gon had managed to hammer into him.

Feen didn’t seem to mind and carried most of the conversation herself as they got their trays and headed to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. She complained about Hyperspace Theory class, deeming Master Warshawski “boring,” she talked about the foods she liked and mentioned a new holofilm she was looking forward to seeing in theaters. Maul expressed polite interest, though said he’d have to wait until it was available within the Temple given that he wasn’t allowed to leave. That seemed to throw her off for a moment, though she recovered quickly.

“Oh. Well. There’s still plenty of things to do here in the Temple.” She smiled, sitting as he gestured at a nearby bench. 

A small waterfall emptied into a pond. The ducks seemed to be absent, but the spreading ripples on the surface were calming on their own. Maul joined Feen on the bench, wings spreading slightly for balance.

Feen gasped. “They’re so pretty!” Her cheeks greened again. “Of course the rest of you is pretty, too.”

He had no idea how to respond to that, so he changed the subject.

“Those flowers over there are lyris flowers from the planet Serenno.” He gestured at the small yellow blooms growing around the edge of the pond.

“They look lovely,” Feen said, glancing at them before returning her attention to him. “I like flowers, too. Have you ever given any to a girl?”

“Uh.”

Later it would all click into place and he’d wonder how he could have been so obtuse. But sitting on the bench with Feen, nibbling on his sandwich and thinking about how easy lyrisi were to care for, he answered with the first thing that came to mind.

“I give Issa some of the prunings sometimes. She made a flower crown for me once.”

“Issa?” Feen frowned. “Who’s Issa?”

Maul stared, taken aback by the sudden sharpness of her tone. “Issa Mar. She’s one of the younglings in Archix Clan. I, uh, help out there a lot when I can.”

“Oh, right! A crecheling!” Feen’s smile returned, brighter than ever. “You know it’s really sweet that you help out with younglings like that. A lot of padawans our age can’t be bothered to go back there once they get out.”

“Yes, well…” Maul shrugged, wings flexing as he did. “I never grew up in them so perhaps that helps.”

“That’s right! You and your mysterious dark past.” She giggled, reaching out to stroke his arm. “I love a man of mystery.”

“Hardly mysterious.” He moved his arm out of her way. “If you ask Obi-Wan he’ll say I’m very boring.” He smiled, remembering the last time Obi-Wan had teased him about it. He’d chosen the same thing for breakfast three mornings in a row. It wasn’t a deliberate preference as much as it was a case of him being too tired to pick something else.

“Well, Padawan Kenobi is wrong.” Feen rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you didn’t spend so much time with him you’d realize that  _ some _ of us think you’re fascinating.” 

She tried reaching for his arm again but he pulled back, lunch forgotten.

“Obi-Wan is my  _ friend,” _ he said, feathers bristling.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, of course! Of course! I never meant- I’m sorry! I know he’s your friend, I just- it’s just so hard to get you alone when he’s always there!” She giggled, though it sounded off. “He’s very protective of you, y’know. It’s almost like he- well, anyway! Now that we’ve had lunch together maybe we could try it again sometime?” She tugged on the neck of her robe, which was hanging open more than usual. “Or- or maybe we could take a walk somewhere? I know some great places. Very out of the way, you know. No chance of us getting  _ interrupted.” _

The way she said it made it sound important, although he couldn’t fathom why. Maybe he could ask Obi-Wan later.

“Walking is nice,” he said, which was true, but also didn’t commit him to anything. It was one of many lessons Qui-Gon had been trying to drill into them.

“Walking and other things.” She winked at him.

His sense of unease grew, tightening the wings against his back.

Her chrono beeped and she jumped to her feet.

“Oh, kriff! Pre-Republic History!” Grimacing, she started walking backwards towards the nearest door. “Thanks for lunch, Maul! We’ll talk again later, okay?”

“Yes. I’ll see you in class.”

Laughing, she turned and ran, her lekku bobbing behind her. Maul exhaled, releasing all the tension that had crept into him over the course of their lunch. He gathered up their trays and returned them to the cafeteria before heading to his Botany class, followed by a trip to the Halls of Healing for what turned out to be a gruelling round of wing strengthening exercises courtesy of Healer Che as well as a round of calisthenics and then, finally, he was allowed to escape back to his room where he fell asleep until Qui-Gon called him to dinner.

Obi-Wan was already seated, but when Maul smiled at him he was met with a frown. Discontent hummed along their bond.

“Obi-Wan?” He sat, not paying much attention to the plate Qui-Gon put in front of him. “What’s wrong? Was it your exam?”

“The exam was fine, thank you.” Obi-Wan stabbed a piece of meat. “I’m sorry I missed lunch, it sounded interesting.”

“Not really.” Maul shrugged, digging into his stew. “Feen wanted to talk. From my Hyperspace Theory class?”

“Oh, right. Feen. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

Maul paused with the fork halfway to his mouth.  _ Was _ she pretty? He hadn’t really thought about it. “I guess. She talks a lot.”

“It’s nice to see you spending more time with your classmates, Maul.” Qui-Gon smiled at him. “Having friends is important at your age.”

Obi-Wan sniffed, poking at his stew. Qui-Gon arched a brow at him.

“You disagree?”

“No, Master,” Obi-Wan said. “It’s important to spend time with those you care about.”

Maul nibbled on a slice of carrot, watching the two of them go back and forth. He wasn’t sure what had Obi-Wan upset, but it was upsetting him, too. His stomach, however, growled a protest.

Qui-Gon put down his fork and sighed. “What seems to be bothering you, padawan mine?”

“Nothing’s bothering me,” Obi-Wan protested, stabbing a wedge of potato. “I think I even passed my astronav exam.”

“That’s wonderful!” Smiling, Qui-Gon reached out to pat his arm. “See what a little dedication to your studies can accomplish?”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. Maul returned to shoveling food into his mouth. As worried as he was about his friend, the afternoon’s workout had left him ravenous.

“I did hear something interesting as I left my exam this afternoon.”

Maul looked at Qui-Gon, who shrugged, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“Is that so? I’m sure you must hear a lot of interesting things in the Halls of Learning.” Qui-Gon speared a piece of meat. “Including some rather colorful language regarding the teaching masters.”

Maul watched Obi-Wan’s cheeks turn pink and took another bite.

“Yes, well.” Obi-Wan waved his fork in the air. “In this case I heard that Maul has started dating someone.”

Maul choked. Qui-Gon had to come over and pound him on the back, finding a safe space between his wings, which were spasming along with the rest of him.

It took him several minutes and a few gulps of water before he recovered enough to croak out, “What?”

Obi-Wan was looking at him. Somehow that made it worse.

“Bant heard from Mora that you and Feen had lunch in a very secluded part of the Room of a Thousand Fountains.”

Maul gaped at him as he felt the oddness of the afternoon’s events settle into a new shape in his mind.  _ A date? Why would anyone- _ but that might explain her behavior. All those smiles and attempts to touch him. The invitation to walk. How had he not noticed it before?

“We weren’t  _ that _ secluded,” he said. “We were by the Pond of Rippling Effects. And it wasn’t- It wasn’t a-” He coughed again, partly from need and mostly from embarrassment. “It was just lunch!”

Qui-Gon, who was still rubbing Maul’s back, cleared his throat. “Maul has had lunch with other students before. I hardly see how it qualifies as  _ interesting _ .”

“Yes, but-” Obi-Wan grimaced. His eyes were a stormy gray as they locked onto Maul again. “Mora said Feen’s been working up to this for weeks. And then you didn’t even eat in the cafeteria but went somewhere ro- uh, green,” he corrected, his face a glowing red.

“I’ve just remembered some reports I need to proof,” Qui-Gon said, giving Maul a final pat. “I’ll leave you two to clean up the mess.”

They stared at each other until the door to Qui-Gon’s room clicked shut.

“I didn’t know it was a date,” Maul hissed, his hearts hammering wildly. “I thought she just wanted to talk about class or- I don’t know, eat!”

“You really didn’t know it was a date?” Obi-Wan reached up, toying with his padawan braid.

“Of course not! Why would anyone want to- to do that with me?” He gestured at himself. 

It was Obi-Wan’s turn to gape. “Why would-” he shook his head, swiping his hands down his face. “Maul, you’re…”

He could almost feel Obi-Wan shifting mental gears.

“You’re gonna be in a lot of trouble when Feen finds out,” Obi-Wan concluded, grinning.

He winced. “Maybe I can just avoid her?”

“Forever?” Obi-Wan laughed. “Good luck with that.”

Maul sighed. He  _ was _ worried about how Feen might react, but he was also glad that Obi-Wan seemed to have forgiven him. For- for whatever. Maybe he just didn’t like Feen for some reason. Maul wondered if he should ask, then decided he didn’t want to know. It didn’t matter, anyway; he wasn’t dating her or anything. And he’d be more careful about accepting invitations from now on, just in case. He had no interest in dating anyone, unless…

He glanced at Obi-Wan, who was eating his stew with enthusiasm. Their eyes met and he looked away again, feeling heat tingling in his cheeks.

No, there wasn’t anyone he wanted to date. And besides, he was pretty sure that the Order frowned on that sort of thing, even if the padawans were willing to discuss it. So even if…  _ that  _ was an option, it still wasn’t an option. He ate his stew and traded jabs with Obi-Wan and tried not to think of walking arm in arm with him through some secluded hallway in the Temple where no one would be around to see if they stopped for  _ other things _ .


End file.
